


Waterloo Sunset

by moonflamesq



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Because These Two Deserve More, Established Relationship, M/M, NO abuse here, No Angst, Pre-Game Oma Kokichi, Pre-Game Personalities (New Dangan Ronpa V3), Pre-Game Saihara Shuichi, SO, Some Fluff, aquarium date, bc we worship atua here, date, first fic on this site!!, forehead kiss, forehead kiss for like a second at the end, hand holding, i dont know how well the song fits as a title but im keeping it so fight me, im like so nervous to post this you dont understand, just let these two be happy, ouma is soft, oumasai, personal headcanons, personality headcanons, pregame ouma, pregame saihara, pure fluff, unbetad, well do we? eh doesnt matter cuz this is just fluff, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 10:37:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20062648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonflamesq/pseuds/moonflamesq
Summary: ♬ The Kinks - Waterloo SunsetSaihara takes Ouma to the aquarium.





	Waterloo Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> so!! this is my first fic on here and the only reason i have any courage to upload it is bc we need more pregame oumasai fluff,,,, unbeta'd + i don't know how to edit so,,, i hope its ok!! i dont know how to indent it on this site though so i apologize for that,

“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Saihara reassures, gently rubbing Ouma’s hand with his own. After various encounters of Ouma’s anxiety, Saihara had figured out a couple tricks to help the other whenever necessary. Now seemed to be a time when Ouma’s Anxiety was especially overwhelming.

Although he had never expected to be here, taking the one he loved to an aquarium for the first time, the second Saihara learned Ouma had never been to one, they’d made plans to go. Ouma was extra nervous, seeing as they were filled with strangers and young children who would watch as the two wandered around with no idea what they were doing, and he didn’t know what to expect. In his mind, they might as well be covered head to toe in neon paint walking into a haunted house with a blindfold. 

Saihara held the door open for Ouma, who nervously slid ahead a couple of steps before purposefully stopping to let Saihara go ahead. He paid for the two’s admission, Ouma mumbling thank yous to both persons. 

Looking at the place, it wasn’t all that much in Saihara’s eyes. There was a large stain in one of the corners of a substance Saihara couldn’t tell, but didn’t care since it wasn’t the color of blood, just noted it as gross. The entrance smelled of junk food, seeing as there was a McDawnolds counter setup, emitting very bright lights. The smell so strong he could practically taste it, and he tried not to gag at the disgusting smell. Maybe he was biased as a rich kid, used to the best and nothing less, but that didn’t change his opinions. There was no employee in sight aside from the one’s set up to be there, like the food employees and the ticket person, some of which were obviously slacking off, laying against counters. He’d been to a lot fancier places ever since his birth mom and his other (rich) mom got married. However, Ouma had mentioned not wanting to go to a place that was overly fancy and expensive, and considering Ouma’s tendency to say yes to things he doesn’t want to do, Saihara made sure to pick a place that wouldn’t overwhelm the other. 

Ouma looked oddly at peace, however, seeing as not many people where around besides the one being paid to be there. Hopefully, the same was true for the exhibits. 

Saihara led Ouma through an entrance, opening up to the place where the animals lay in pools, where you can touch them. The oceanic smell helped rid of the disgusting smell from earlier, and the area seemed to be better taken care of. An employee stood nearby, checking on all the animals, and Saihara didn’t immediately notice anything gross, so he gave this area a pass. Although he didn’t completely understand why they didn’t take care of the entrance, either. Wasn’t that arguably one of the most important parts?

He smothered the thought, realizing it was probably better for the animals anyway to be a priority anyway. He could appreciate that with honesty. 

Ouma’s gaze was nervously shifting from the handful of people in the room to the various animals, eventually deciding to stare at said animals in an attempt to completely avoid eye contact. There was plenty to look at, from the starfish to the coral surrounding them, to the borders designed like rocks and the painted wall depicting an extended version of the rock. There was also the pool for young manta-rays, where the employee stood, but Ouma was refusing to look at it, due to the people surrounding it. Wrapping himself up in this small portion of the exhibit, in order to hide from everyone else. Well...almost. Almost everyone else. 

“Do you want to touch one?” Saihara held up their interlocked hands, catching Ouma off guard. He switched from looking from Saihara to their hands to the animals a couple of times before shyly nodding in agreement. Saihara forced down a smile. 

Using the soap dispenser nearby, they cleaned their hands. Rolling up their sleeves, Saihara then carefully brought Ouma’s hands down to touch the starfish.

...He didn’t really know what to do past that. 

Eh, he could bluff it. 

“Woah,” Ouma gasped on touch. Maybe Saihara wouldn’t need to bluff, seeing Ouma’s eyes sparkle in amazed wonder as he began to carefully and somewhat hesitantly trace his fingers over the skin of the starfish until it flinched back, and Ouma instinctively whipped his hand away, sending a little splash around. 

“Sorry.” Saihara shrugged, unaffected by the splash after pulling his hand away earlier, and the employee paid no attention to them, instead attending to some young children who were very keen on touching the manta rays. But being able to touch the starfish almost seemed like it had done wonders to Ouma. Like he had gone from a deflated balloon to slowly filling up on air and getting better. Less nervous. Saihara couldn’t force down the smile then. 

He looked over at the rowdy kids, partially to hide the smile, who were leaning way over the rail, reaching far away from what both the mom and employee seemed comfortable with in order to touch the fish. The mom was hurriedly picking them up and dragging them away as the employee grabbed a kid who had just about fallen inside. Ouma let out a nervous giggle at the disastrous sight. 

“Maybe let’s come back for the manta-rays later,” Saihara said. Ouma nodded, a small but hopefully growing smile on his face. Saihara tried not to melt at the sight, resisting by showing the small smile in return. It only made Ouma’s grow a little wider, and Saihara to look away once again in embarrassment. “Still have to clean our hands, though.” 

“Right.” The two used the soap to clean their hands, almost using their pants to dry off before the employee vaguely pointed at some paper towels. Having cleaned up, the soap leaving a moist feeling on their hands, they headed to the next exhibit down the hall. 

There where various fish tanks inside of this room, each hiding behind a painted wall so you couldn’t actually see the tank itself, but the one that stood out most to the two was the octopus. The tank took up the entire wall, with the octopus in question sitting on a large rock in the back, seemingly trying to camouflage with it. Its tentacles were spread out around the rock like a spider on its web, waiting silently for prey to get caught in its trap, however who the prey was in this situation was uncertain. Food? Visitors? The seaweed in its cage? The wall? Glass? 

Ouma admired the octopus with genuine amazement. It had so many tentacles, and was otherwise just a head, yet it belonged to such a smart and intelligent species, one that’s capable of easily escaping its tank if so desired, and yet here it was, hugging a rock for no apparent reason. It was amusing to see, although he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to see what the other part of its tentacles looked like- the kind with the suckers, the one that can attach to stuff.  
The octopus stared at something yet nothing in particular, so the two began to make ‘educated’ guesses. 

“Maybe it’s watching everyone surround it? I imagine that might be kind of scary,” Saihara said. Ouma took a couple steps back, like he was trying to offer comfort to the octopus. Not what he meant. He grabbed Ouma’s hand and offered a reassuring smile, which was returned with an excited grin Saihara wasn’t used to seeing . 

“It’s planning its escape from this planet,” Ouma joked. Saihara offered a quiet laugh, making Ouma practically beam at the response. It sent a warm feeling through Saihara’s chest. 

“Yes, that’s exactly it. It’s coming from the kraken planet that it’s secretly descended from.” Ouma giggled at the silly, obviously impossible backstory. Saihara attempted to choke down a giggle of his own, but alas, Ouma had infected him with the happy vibes. How dare. 

Saihara pulled away from the octopus tank, Ouma being willingly dragged behind him as he was led to another part of the room, where there was a smaller tank, supposedly housing an eel, judging by the sign hanging beside the cage. However, the eel was nowhere to be seen. 

“I wonder where it is,” Saihara thought to himself. 

“Narnia,” Ouma laughed. Saihara rolled his eyes, an amused huff escaping his lips at Ouma’s obvious glee. Saihara had been hoping Ouma would like it, but he was genuinely surprised by how well the boy had received it once they left the entrance area. Almost like it was calming for Ouma. 

He was glad to have found something that helps. 

After a while of staring at the otherwise decorative tank, they gave up trying to find the mysterious eel and left for another room. One hopefully Ouma wouldn’t be freaked out by. 

The shark area. 

It took a couple of dodging through rooms, leaving Ouma confused, with the simple promise that “it’d be interesting, you’ll love it.” Saihara silently hoped that was true as he ‘led’ (he got lost multiple times, but refused to say this aloud) Ouma to the room where the sharks where. 

He let out a soft gasp as the sight of fish bigger than they had seen in the aquarium filled his vision. There where all different kinds, none of which Ouma could put a name to, but that didn’t matter to him because they were beautiful and gigantic and-

He ran up to the glass like an excited child, staring with wide, wonder-filled eyes at the sharks. Saihara decided not to bother to try to stop him, since it wasn’t like there where many people to judge him anyway (anyone who was caught giving judging glances where given the coldest stare Saihara could muster while trying not to melt at his boyfriend’s excitement.) 

Ouma hummed excitedly as his gaze shifted from shark to shark, leaving a buzzing in his chest. He’d been smiling so much his cheeks physically hurt, but no matter how hard he’d try he couldn’t force down the smile. He loved seeing the different ways all the sharks were shaped- from the kind you’d expect out of movies except smaller, the ones that kinda looked like a hammer laying on its side, the ones with noses that vaguely reminded Ouma of skeletons. They were all so different! And right in front of him! Not an image on a screen, or a drawing, or the remains of a dead one. They all were swimming in front of him alive! And none of them were acting aggressively towards anyone, so he could assume it was safe to go up. It was a sense of peace Ouma had really missed. Not one where you had to force yourself to think the same thought over and over until you can’t think of anything else and forget what the original problem was, only for it to bother you later. 

He needed this. 

“You sure seem to be having fun,” Saihara said, walking up next to him to look at the fish. Ouma looked over at him and nodded eagerly, a large smile on his face. Saihara was smiling back at him, a slightly unusual sight, seeing as Saihara seemed to prefer to come off as frightening towards others. He had been when they had first met, when they drifted apart and became friends again, and sometimes still was scary. But as Ouma got to know him, he also got to know that the whole cold and emotionless thing was a bit of a facade. He did care for others and had normal emotions, just didn’t like sharing them. 

“Not to be rude, but the kids are starting to want to see, too.” The two glanced over at an incoming family, the one with the very rowdy kids from earlier. If it were up to the two, it’d probably be better to leave them alone. Ouma nodded, hesitantly reaching for Saihara’s hand before pulling back. Saihara rolled his eyes and grabbed it. 

Going through the tunnel they hadn’t used to enter led them to the area with the penguins, which immediately meant Ouma was going right up to the glass again. Saihara wouldn’t admit it, but Ouma’s strange behavior stressed him out a little. Not because he didn’t want Ouma to be happy, not that at all! He just wasn’t sure how to respond, wasn’t completely sure if he would accidentally make it break. 

_Calm down. You’ll both be ok._

Despite the lack of any real evidence in the thought, Saihara trusted it was true. It was better that way anyway. 

He walked up to the glass where the penguins were waddling around on the ice. One jumped into the water, splashing all the other penguins in the tank, swimming around in an area probably more noticable if you were smaller or crouching down. For the most part, the penguins were just standing still doing nothing, but watching them was still cute. 

“I think there’s a better view of the underwater part a little further if you want to see it?” Saihara said. Ouma nodded, and Saihara brought him down the stairs and a very short turn to see a glass where you could look up and see the entire underwater part of the exhibit. A penguin was currently there, swimming in a u-like shape before popping back up on the surface. Ouma let out a soft giggle. 

The occasional penguin came swimming over, but for the most part, not a lot happened. They were mostly left staring at the exhibit in silence. So the two moved on to the next area, the otter exhibit. 

The otter was moving in oddly timed moments. It would move very energetic and randomly for a couple moments, then randomly freeze until it had decided it was time to use another burst of energy. It was silly and kind of amusing to watch, but Ouma seemed to be slowly getting lower on energy, as he hung back with Saihara, peacefully holding his hand as the two watched the otter maneuver through branches, rocks, a river it barely touched, and numerous plants. His hand was warm and small, Saihara’s easily able to completely capture it in his own if he wanted to, though he didn’t. He liked being able to feel Ouma’s fingers individual instead of small, connected and hiding. 

He found Ouma laying on his shoulder, a signal to Saihara that they might want to leave soon. There was still a warm smile on his face, so it wasn’t like staying in this moment for a bit longer was any harm, but staying too long might be a bad idea. It wasn’t until Ouma had started yawning that Saihara decided it was best to leave.

“Getting tired?”

“Hmm..? Oh, kinda yeah.” It had that small, little nervous edge to it growing in his voice again. Ouma was starting to get anxious again, so keeping him here was a bad idea. 

...Wow, Saihara was kind of proud of noticing that. 

_Now’s not the time to think about that._

“We can leave, if you’d like,” Saihara said. 

“Um, would it be okay if we get something first? I want to remember this.”

“That’s completely okay.” Ouma gave a soft smile at the response. Saihara was glad he hadn’t been completely sucked out of happy vibes yet, offering the smallest smirk in thanks. Vaguely guessing the layout of the area, Saihara led them to the entrance, where a small merch shop stood right in front of the exit doors. Figures. 

They entered the shop, which was easily the most clean part of the entrance area, with shirts to stuffed animals to keychains and snowglobes, among other various types of souvenirs. Saihara never really likes how blatantly stuff like this was for money, valuing greed over others, but then again, he didn’t need to care about the stuff. 

Ouma began to wander around, scanning everything, only bothering to stop at whatever caught his interest. That of which seemed to be...things in the cheaper side, and that reminded him of something, something good and happy. What that something was, Saihara might never know. But their wasn’t much of a point in pushing it now. 

Saihara wandered off to another part of the store, the things that interested him more. Various souvenirs lined the shelves, but he found the snow globes most interesting. Deciding on one he liked, he singled out one of a turtle and held it in his hands, it was small, he could basically close his fingers around it, but he liked that part of it. He took a scan around the room until he found Ouma, who was staring uncertainly at a large pile of stuffed animals. 

“Do you want one?” 

“Ah-! Um, if that’s ok.” Saihara could practically feel Ouma getting more nervous and his almost instinctive feeling of guilt washing over him. This was the Ouma that Saihara was used to, but not unwelcome in the slightest. 

“Of course...” Saihara had planned to say a little more after that, but he trailed off as he lost whatever he had wanted to say. Ouma softly smiled, looking from Saihara, back to the stuffed animals. Deciding quickly, he pulled out a shark plushie and held it close to his chest, like he was protecting it. Saihara forced down a laugh. 

Holding a signature glare at anyone who was sending Ouma weird looks, which luckily wasn’t many, since most people probably assumed Ouma was a child (technically, they were both minors,) the two waited in line. 

_They think you’re a pedophile!_

_Ouma is doing this with his consent! And-_

A small argument formed in his mind, one not at all welcome but there nonetheless. He tried not to frustrate himself, knowing full well that Ouma would probably notice. It was silenced almost immediately at the feeling of a hand shyly touching his. 

He relaxed at the touch, holding Ouma’s hand until they got to the cash register. Opening his wallet, he paid for the two items. The cashier stuffed them in a plastic bag. 

Leaving the walls of the building, he grabbed Ouma’s hand again, rewarded with a sort of happy half-chuckle from the boy. Only letting go when they entered the car, Saihara in drivers and Ouma in passenger. 

“Are- are you sure it wasn’t too much?” Saihara gave Ouma a glance, trying to convey look at how much money I have, this is nothing but possibly coming off as what are you, stupid? in the other’s mind. 

“My family is doing completely fine on money. It was nothing.” Ouma shifted, still unsure. Holding in a sigh, Saihara leaned forward, placing a small kiss on Ouma’s forehead before leaning back. 

“It’s ok.” 

“I- okay…” Ouma seemed conflicted, so Saihara let out a soft sigh and dropped it. There was no point in trying so hard that it only made him feel guiltier. Although he somewhat wished he could see the excited smile again. 

But it was...okay. 

Even if he didn’t see it. 

He still loved Ouma, it’s just that simply caring about someone won’t cure their anxiety. It isn’t that simple, that’s not how it works. 

But if he wanted to see that smile again?

Maybe he should take Ouma to see even better places...

**Author's Note:**

> so i hope that was fun to read!! it was fun to write although im sure there's stuff i need to work on, so any criticism is appreciated!!! i hope you liked it, we need more pregame fluff tbh,,,, i feel like it wasn't as long as i like my stuff to be but,,, i hope anyone who reads this likes it anyway? and if you don't that's ok too,,,, thanks for reading!!!


End file.
